Rail-joint.



UNITED STATES LEO L. SAVOIE, OF NEW ORLEANS. LOUISIANA.

RAIL-JOINT.

No. 825,007'A Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1906.

lpjnlcatioii filed July 22,1905. Serial No. 270,790.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEO L. SAVOIE, a citithe usual construction except that near the zen of the UnitedStates, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved fastening for rail-joints in such fashion that the meeting ends 'of two rails will be securely connected and interbraced to sustain the passing load.

The present method of connecting the meeting ends of two rails by means of side plates, which are bolted to the webs of the rails, is defective, for the reason that the load of the passing car depresses the end of the loaded rail, thereby bringing a shearing strain upon the bolts which pass through the side plates and rail-web, loosening the nuts on the ends of such bolts and destroying the effectiveness of the joint. Also it is found that the carwheel strikes the raised end of the unloaded rail in such manner as to do injury to the same, as well as to the wheel. My improved means for securing the joint overcomes these difficulties by providing an attachment of the side bar to the rail ends,

whereby the bar is firmly held against the i web andbeneath the tread of the rail, ex-

tending also to the upper surface of the railfoot, so that the rail ends are mutually supported against vertical displacement and in j such way that both rail ends are depressed equally, thereby greatly facilitating the smooth running of the car and lessening the wear on the parts.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which@ Figure l shows in perspective the meeting ends of two rails with my fastening means ap- 1 plied. Fig. 2 is a view of a transverse section along the line y y in Fig. l.

Referring to the drawings, the two rail ends are indicated, respectively, by the referends a depending flange a is formed on the lower exterior corners of the tread portion standing lip b, is arranged to fit upon the upper face of the foot portion, one plate being placed on either side of the rail-web.

Side bars O are formed to fit accurately one on each side of the rail-web and to extend from the under surface of the tread to the upsuch size as to Iit tightly between the railweb and the `iianges a and b.

At proper points the upper portion of the base-plate is cut away to form a key-groove, and the rail-web is perforated in line with such groove. The lower portion of each side bar is also grooved to correspond with the grooves cut in the base-plates in such manner that when the'parts are assembledthe groove in the side bar registers with the groove or slot in the base-plate and rail-web, so as to form akeyway.` Wedge-shaped keys D are then driven in these ways, and the projecting ends of the keys are bent downwardly against the outer side of the base-plate.

In assembling the parts the side bars may be placed in the end of one rail and secured therein, and then the projecting ends of the side bars may be inserted in the meeting end of the other rail, or the rails may be placed in position end to end and the side bars placed adjacent the web of one rail, with their ends adjacent the ends of the flange a and baseplate nearer the central portion of the rail, and such side bars may be then driven into l position.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- In a railjoint for connecting the meeting ends of two rails, each of said rails having a flange depending from the lower side of the tread portion, a base-plate arranged to fit upon the upper sideof the foot portion of each rail on each side of the rail-web, each plate having an upstanding flange, and being grooved to provide a keyway on its upper portion, side bars arranged to it on each side l ence characters A and A. These rails are of 5o and that a plate B, provided with an upper face of the base-plate, each .bar being of of the rail-web and to bear respectively on In testimony whereof I affix my signature their upper and lower sides against the lower lin presence of two witnesses, face of tread portion and the upper face of the base-plate, said bars being grooved or LEO L. SAVOIE. slotted to provide keyways to register with the keyways of the base-plates, and wedge- Vitnesses:

shaped keys arranged to be driven in such JAMES GREEN CAix/,IPBELL7 keyways. WM. R. BoBB. 

